The school’s ski trip is leaving tomorrow. I’m not going on it, but some of my cloee friends are. And I am completely paranoid because of what happened two years ago on Saturday.

As many of you may know, my school suffered a large blow on the 11th Febuary 2006. The coach taking around 40 people sking in Austria broke down on a hard shoulder, and was then plowed into by an articulated lorry, early in the morning. Two or three people were injured… and one boy was killed. Although I didn’t know him myself, he was close to a lot of people. The garden outside the school stands as a tribute to him and other students.

The events unfolded to me as follows:
At roughly 9am, Rose told me over MSN about the crash. She linked me to an early article posted on a newspaper’s website, that said that someone had died, but could not name who. Other articles clashed and disagreed, and after a while, I was not sure what to think - I was very worried, as some of my friends were on the trip. It was a while before the truth finally revealed itself.
After this, I was extremely emotionally drained. I know that I was very snappy, and my moods swung around a lot. I had a whole week to wait before I could speak to anyone I know who were on the trip.
The day I returned to school was very tense. The tension in the school was stiflingly thick, and it was almost completely silent. (For a school of 1100 students, that’s saying a lot.). I remember the first person I spoke to was the organiser of the trip, and the man who had given first aid to the injured, Alan Jeffery. He will be engrained in my memory for ever more as one of the bravest men I know. Eventually the tension subsided slightly. Lessons continued as normal, although they were hushed.
The students on the trip all reacted differently. One girl was perpetually in tears, and another boy I know was completely calm. If this boy hadn’t been bending down, he would have been killed instead of Stuart. The fact that he was relatively unruffled by this experience stands as testamony to him.

The whole experience showed me that the nameless, the faceless, that you see on television and in newspapers, they’re all real people. And it’s always so, so hard when it happens to you - even if you were only part of the community and didn’t know any of the injured or dead yourself. Whenever I see news of a child’s death or other tragedies, I cannot help but spare a thought for all the family, friends, and other people in their communities, whose courage and determination in times of desperation could move mountains.

Do not forget those in need. Even if you don’t know or care, they still feel pain.

Posted 9 months, 2 weeks ago